And with this, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials finally gets interesting. Microsoft announced today that a beta version of the Office 365 Integration Module (OIM) for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials is finally available, proving integration between its new SMB-focused server offering and its market-leading cloud productivity service.

"The OIM allows small businesses to seamlessly combine the cloud-based productivity tools of Office 365 with the infrastructure provided by SBS 2011 Essentials, a first-server designed and priced especially for small businesses with limited in-house IT resources," Microsoft Senior Product Manager from Windows Server and Cloud Marketing at Microsoft writes. "The joint technologies provide businesses with an affordable hybrid solution that helps protect data, organize and provide access to business information from virtually anywhere, and support the applications that enable the business to run smoothly and efficiently."

According to Microsoft, The Office 365 Integration Module for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials extends the features of the server Dashboard by providing seamless integration with Office 365 services. When you integrate Office 365 with the server, you can:

Subscribe to Office 365 or configure the server to use an existing subscription.

Perform the following Office 365 account management tasks from the Dashboard: Bulk create Office 365 accounts for network user accounts, assign new or existing Office 365 accounts to network user accounts, and manage the Office 365 account assigned to a user account throughout the lifecycle of the user account. (For example, deactivating a network user account also deactivates the Office 365 account that is assigned to the user account.)

Synchronize passwords for network user accounts and Office 365 accounts. This allows network users to sign in to Office 365 using their Windows password.

Link an Internet domain that you have set up on Window SBS to Office 365.

Discuss this Article 3

Paul - Last I noticed, you were contemplating whether to build a new server box into SBS or WHS. Im in a similar home office situation (but with far less knowledge that you) am interested in how that turned out. My quandary is: easier file sharing of WHS or SBS thatll give me some experience for work situations.

Rob, I can field this one.
WHS is designed for media sharing. SBSe is not.
If you have PC's that are going to be used more for productivity, and want to centrally manage user accounts and permissions, SBSe is the answer because it delivers an easy-to-use implementation of Active Directory. You will need a business version of Windows on each PC to take advantage of this kind of setup though, i.e. Vista Business/Ultimate or 7 Pro/Ultimate. XP systems won't be a good complementary desktop OS for SBSe, but then XP's mainstream support is done and you won't see any more new feature additions for it.
SBSe does have options for centralizing your user data folders over to the server via folder redirection. Basically it means that a user's data (Documents, Pictures, etc.) are stored on the server, but also synchronized when the computer is connected to the network so that they are available even when the computer is disconnected from the network. This is a good option for notebook computers that are often taken off-site during scheduled backup times. This option is not available in WHS because it relies on the Offline Files and Group Policy features that are available through the Active Directory domain. The add-in that provides this functionality also requires that PC's have Windows 7 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate, according to the instructions. I would imagine this has something to do with the Group Policy settings that they use. If you have an older PC OS, you could theoretically set up Group Policy settings manually for those ones, but the OS would still have to be a business version.
So in summary, do you want to use your network for fun stuff, or do you want to have more control over connected computers and network user accounts? That's what the decision boils down to.
Also, WHS is far cheaper than SBSe, but the features are target market are completely different.

Thanks much Waethorn. Yeah, Everything I own is Win 7 Pro or Ult. Thats not an issue. Guests will probably bring Macs and other configurations but my two (and sometimes 3 )machines are the ones that really matter. In some way the server is for my media and in others its the center of my IT-shop-of-sorts. I dont really want to have both WHS and SBS Essentials around.
I have about 300GB of media and work that doesnt fit affordably on todays SSDs. Otherwise, Id just sync with Live Mesh. WHS is probably the best fit for that use the home part of my home office. The add-in that allows access to the server media from WP7 would be nice. (I do wonder if that app really allows a good media experience on the phone.)
On the other hand, if Im going spend hours building and learning something, I feel like Id benefit in my day job by learning SBS inside and out. Im quite an O365 fan. In the end, I may use WHS day-to-day and virtualize SBS to test with.